Request for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunal Arbitral (Portugal) lodged on 28 October 2013 – Merck Canada Inc. v Accord Healthcare Limited and Others
(Case C-555/13)
Language of the case: Portuguese
Referring court
Tribunal Arbitral
Parties to the main proceedings
Applicant: Merck Canada Inc.
Defendants: Accord Healthcare Limited, Alter SA, Labochem Ltd, Synthon BV, Ranbaxy Portugal – Comércio e Desenvolvimento de Produtos Farmacêuticos, Unipessoal Lda
Question referred
May Article 13 of Regulation No 469/2009 1 be interpreted as permitting, by means of a supplementary protection certificate for medicinal products, the period for exclusive exploitation of the patented invention to be more than fifteen years from the date of the first authorisation to place the medicinal product in question on the market within the Community (not including the extension provided for in Article 13(3) of that regulation)?
____________1 Regulation (EC) No 469/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 May 2009 concerning the supplementary protection certificate for medicinal products (Codified version) (OJ 2009 L 152, p. 1).